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I'm from Mexico and also live here, so my process for Step 1 has been a bit different to what was described on the book but it's relatively simply.

About my process, after reading the book the first time, I have also started decluttering a lot, and trying to avoid buying unnecessary stuff and learning how to fix my clothes and I'm even trying to learn how to make my own shoes!

On the other hand, I'm almost done with Step 1 and it's a lot better than I thought. I'm not in debt and have few savings already, not yet ready for retirement, but seems doable now....maybe, still have 8 Steps to go through.

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About me, I majored in Mechatronics Engineering but made a career in Systems' Engineering; and now, I'm looking forward to leaving my job and work as an End-Of-Life Doula (similar to Hospice service) and life would be awesome if I could also become a part time meditator, I'd love to spend a couple of months in solitary retreat, hence, my interest in completing the program.

We did it. I'm happy to say we own 2 homes free/clear, no CC debt. we live by CC paying it off EVERY month. And we travel free on the points. I wrote a check for my new car 22 months ago. We're fully bankrolled for retirement and work because we still enjoy it.

I can't recommend it enough as a helpful tool to synchronize yourself with money. I will say no CD ladder here. That did not work for us. But all the principles are sound and helpful.

CD = "Certificate of Deposit" at a financial institution. An amount on deposit with a higher interest in exchange for some time limitations.

My rules are :
Live simply.
Live below your current means.
Have well thought out plans and goals to work towards.
Try not to follow the crowd.

Keep track and analyse often or at the very least once per year to see how things are going and what changes need to be made.

Understand that your life in hours is being exchanged for the money to spend on "stuff" and only you can decide if the exchange is worth it. A simple example is we drink our coffee at home and do not buy those daily coffees so many are out there spending money (life) on. One $3 coffee every working day = $750 per year. Is that what you would spend money on?

In addition to reading YMOYL i would suggest another book called Getting a Life. It was written by a couple who went through the process and also includes stories about other people on the journey and how they approached it.

Actually 2 couples wrote follow up books with true stories. Both were very good. One was written by Linda Breen and I think the other couple was Jackie and David. You can probably google it and find the books. I gave mine away or I could tell you exactly the titles.

Simple beginning: We both were raised in households without a lot of money for various reasons. Education and hard work was expected by our parents. We got married very young. In the early 80s, we bought a condominium with a 13% mortgage. When we sold it several years later, we had very little equity because all was going to vast interest charges. Looked at one another and said "debt is not a good thing". We sat down and established our short term and long term goals. We wrote it all down in our "Life Book". It includes everything we could think of such as currrent status, anticipated changes and expenses, all goals, and both income statements and balance sheets. It is updated every year (It was updated every month or so when we first started and were budgeting.)

At one point we set up a special saving account for a big purchase down the road. Later when we decided we no longer wanted the big purchase, we had a nice balance. This has happened several times. Good way to prevent impulsive purchases.

Every bit of extra money was discussed as to where would it be best placed. Debt, spending, or savings. It was often debt or later debt 50% plus savings 50%. We don't buy a lot of new fashion, don't drink or spend lots eating out, and don't trade in cars. We did spend on international travel but watched our pennies and got good values along the way. Now we are comfortably retired due to our decisions and have met all our goals.

To help keep the unnecessary stuff out of the house, check out the Marie Kondo books about possessions. I find it a start in how to "curate" your own household items and prevent excess money being spent on stuff.

So, would you mind sharing the process that brought you to having this rules?, I'd love to have some more inspiration.

Our rules are similar. They come from analyzing life to put it simply.

The US is a consumer culture. A keep up with the neighbor culture. Upgrade is a word we detest-not everything MUST be "improved". Bigger is better. New is a must.

We don't abide by this culture. We spent many a night discussing need vs want.
Then, do we have to go into debt to get what we want? The short answer is no......save up money and pay cash.

We sit down every New Year's Day and talk about goals for the year. What is it? What will it cost (if it has a cost). How will we spend our vacation time? What big life steps are coming up and do they have costs?

Many years ago we started putting every wage increase into savings and retirement investing. This went on until we had reached our federal maximum allowed. Our lifestyle did not rise with our income. This was a very hard thing to do when we were just 30 but we're so thankful at 56 that we did this. We are set for retirement and we work because we enjoy the work we do.

Walking the exercises in the book will be very helpful. It will make you evaluate every single penny you have and how you use it. One of my aha moments was learning that I was spending more than $1000/year on books. I am a voracious reader. I stopped buying books and use the library constantly. If I had not done the exercises in the book I would never have known this!